The present invention relates to electromagnetic methods for the decontamination of hazardous material-containing volumes (for example, landfills, land disposal sites, low-level radioactive waste burial grounds, storage tanks, railroad cars and water-containing regions of the earth) which can be used in conjunction with other hazardous waste treatment technologies for effective hazardous waste management.
Waste management problems have been exacerbated in the second half of this century by the quantity and toxicity of the waste material generated. Waste quantities have steadily increased due to the population growth and the rapid waste generation rates. In addition, as a result of relatively recent technological innovations, waste materials have become increasingly more toxic. A partial list of hazardous materials which now pose serious environmental and human health hazards include industrial wastes from solvent uses, electrochemical applications, fertilizers, and pesticides, as well as various highly-toxic chlorinated species (for example, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurane and biphenyls), and radioactive wastes, many of which were not known in the first half of this century. Soils contaminated with creosote and pentachlorophenol from the operation of wood-treating plants are also a significant environmental hazard. Better technologies are urgently needed to detoxify and isolate these and other hazardous materials from the environment.
The disposal of hazardous materials in near-surface and subsurface formations has become more expensive and difficult as available land and high-quality groundwater resources have diminished. Historical practices, either deliberate or accidental, have left numerous site legacies that must be managed. Although much concern has focussed on species migration and groundwater contaminants, more effective remediation and control may result from soil management and on-site treatment practices. In some instances, modified site operations, as well as chemical and biological treatment technologies have useful roles in waste management. For many contaminated soils, high-temperature incineration is perhaps the most obvious treatment. While appropriate for some liquid wastes, other alternatives should be considered for soil remediation. Low temperature technologies, either chemical or biological treatment, for example, can achieve similar results at somewhat slower rates.
It is an object of this invention to decontaminate hazardous material-containing volumes by using the radio frequency antenna apparatus described herein in conjunction with other known hazardous waste technology methods to obtain a significant enhancement of both technologies, from an economic and operational standpoint.